Thursday, April 7, 2016

Babil Government Still Not Allowing Citizens Of Iraq’s Jurf al-Sakhr Return Home

Jurf al-Sakhr in northwest Babil province was once the
bastion of the Islamic State’s operations from central to southern Iraq. The
government tried again and again to clear out the area, until finally
succeeding in October 2014. As part of the operation to free the town the
entire population was forced out. Since then none has been allowed to return.
The Babil government claims the area is unsafe due to improvised explosive
devices left behind by IS, but it is really due to mistrust of the population
and wanting to keep routes to the south safe that is leading to the decision.

The Babil provincial council has repeatedly said that no one
is allowed back into Jurf al-Sakhr until it is safe. The most recent example
was on April
6, 2016. They’ve had that opinion for months now dating back to at least December
2014. The Babil Operations Command stated the same thing in October
2014 immediately after the town was liberated. Al
Monitor interviewed a sheikh from Jurf al-Sakhr in June 2015 who claimed
that the area was actually secured. He claimed it was the council that was not
allowing people back because it did not trust them. Since Jurf al-Sakhr was
such an IS stronghold, members of the council have accused
the residents of all being supporters of the militants. In those situations,
local authorities have not allowed people to return to their residences because
they are considered a security risk. This has happened across the country in
many other towns and cities after
IS has been ejected.

Besides the suspicions about the loyalties of the population
another issue was at play. Jurf al-Sakhr lays along two main thoroughfares used
by Shiite pilgrims from Baghdad and the north to travel to Najaf and Karbala
for pilgrimages to the shrines there. The final campaign to free the town was
launched before just one of those religious ceremonies. The Hashd that still
control security in the area, and the Babil council are not willing to threaten
those processions, and have sacrificed the population of Jurf al-Sakhr to
ensure that people are protected along those routes.

Jurf al-Sakhr was a long time base for the Islamic State.
The group used it to launch operations into a wide swath of the country. For
example Amiriya Fallujah in eastern Anbar, Abu Ghraib, Dora, and southern towns
in Baghdad province, along with Karbala, Najaf and the entire south were
targeted. It was likely the source for car bombings as far down as Basra. Its
importance was shown as IS attacks in the south almost completely stopped after
the town was freed. The government made attempt after attempt to free the area
as a result, with little to no success until October 2014. The town was finally
liberated on October 24 by an operation led by the Badr
Organization with help from Iranian Revolution Guards’ Quds Force commander
General Qasim
Suleimani. It was reported that Iranian personnel were even involved on the
ground. As part of the campaign the entire population, some 80,000
people, was forced out, leaving it empty
afterward. It was then converted
into a military base, and used to support offensives in Anbar. Iraqi forces
were moved in and out of the town, but it was declared unsafe for any civilians.

As areas are freed there is a political debate about who
should be allowed back based upon their loyalties. Tens of thousands have been
prevented from returning home if they are believed to be pro-insurgent, and
whole towns are empty as a result, just like Jurf al-Sakhr. Those fears are
doubled in this case by the fact that it lays abreast important highways to
Iraq’s Shiite shrine cities in the south. It may take the defeat of the Islamic
State for things to change, and for the people of the area to be allowed to go
to their homes. Even then the situation may not change as it’s been 18 months
since the town was freed and there has been no change in the opinions of the
Hashd and Babil council about returns.

IRAQ HISTORY TIMELINE

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Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com